Chair



1961 s. B. HENDRICKSON 2,995,182

CHAIR Filed May 5, 1959 INVENTOR. SEVERIN B. HENDRICKSON PW,f/KMVM United States Patent 2,995,182 CHAIR Severin B. Hendrickson, Templeton, Mass., assignor to Heywood-Wakefield Company, Gardner, Mass, a corporation of Massachusetts Filed May 5, 1959, Ser. No. 811,172 1 Claim. (Cl. 297-445) This invention relates to furniture, and more particularly to tubular furniture of the type ordinarily employed in gardens, terraces, or the like.

Among the objects of this invention is the provision of an improved seating element for a tubular frame chair and for an improved means for securing the same in place. Another object of this invention is to provide anchoring means for such a seating element which serves the dual function of anchoring the seating element and reinforcing the tubular frame against normal stresses incidental to use.

In the accomplishment of these and other objects of my invention in a preferred embodiment thereof, I employ a tubular frame chair mounted on a conventional spring leg type base. The seat and back rest part of the chair is formed from a single tubular frame bent in a generally L-shaped contour to provide a seat portion along the base of the L and a back rest portion along the vertical portion of the L. The seating element of my invention comprises a resilient plastic cord secured to the side members of the tubular frame by means of lacing hooks welded in a strip along the inside of the side members of the tubular frame. With the lacing hooks in position along the inside of the frame, the resilient plastic cord is laced back and forth across the frame to form the seat and back rest. -It is a feature of my invention that the said cord passes around the hooks on the inside of the frame and thence around and over the top of the frame. In this way the hooks are hidden from view and/ or obstruction and the cord is held in firm contact around a major portion of the surface of the tubular frame.

It is a further feature of my invention that the plastic cord may be readily installed or replaced after the other structural members of the chair are fully assembled and ready for use. It is an additional feature of this invention that the lacing hooks are mounted on a separate strip which is welded to the insides of the side members of the chair frame, and in this position they materially reinforce the frame against inward bending forces applied to said frame by said plastic cord by the weight of the occupant of the chair.

Further objects and features of my invention will best be understood and appreciated from a detailed description of a preferred embodiment thereof, selected for purposes of illustration and shown in the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a view in perspective of the chair of my invention:

FIG. 2 is a fragmentary view of the frame member showing the lacing hook member attached thereto on the inside of the frame member; and

FIG. 3 is a view in cross section, taken along the lines 33 of FIG. 2.

In the preferred embodiment of the chair of my invention herein shown, I employ a pair of side standards bent to form arm rest elements 12 in their upper portions and base elements 14 in their lower extremities. It will 2,995,182 Patented Aug. 8, 1961 be understood that the elements 10, 12 and 14 actually comprise a single piece of strong steel having suflicient rigidity to hold the weight of an occupant sitting in a chair in gently resiliently or rocking condition with the occupants weight balanced by the spring forces of the side standard 10 and base 14.

Between the side standards 10 and secured thereto, I mount a one piece tubular seat and back rest frame indicated generally at 16 and bent to form a pair of spaced apart similarly disposed L-shaped side members 18. The side members 18 in general define between themselves a seat portion along the base of the L and a back rest portion along the vertical portion of the L.

The seating element of the chair comprises a continuous resilient plastic cord 20 which in this preferred embodiment is a thick solid vinyl plastisol extrusion. It is connected to the frame 16 by means of lacing hooks 22 stamped in lacing hook strips 24 which are in turn welded to the inner face of the side members 18 of the frame 16. The seating element 20 is connected to the side members 18 by looping back and forth over the hooks 22. From each hook it runs down under the frame member =18, around outwardly thereof, over the top thereof, across the gap between the side members 18, and so forth until the plastic cord occupies the entire seat and back rest areas of the said frame 16.

It will be noted that the lacing hook strip 24 welded to the inner face of the side members 18 provides a substantial reinforcement against the inwardly bending forces normally exerted by the cord 20 due to the weight of an occupant of the chair. Thus the lacing hook strips serve the dual function of anchoring the plastic cord and seating element 20, and reinforcing the tubular side frames 18. In addition, it will be noted that when the chair is occupied, the forces applied to the cord 20 are not only resisted by the hooks 20 but are also distributed around a major portion of the circumference of the side frame members 18 thereby minimizing the application of sharp pressure points to the cord 20 in such a Way as to tend to tear the same. Additionally it will be noted that applicants arrangement of the lacing hooks disposed on the inner face of the side members 18 not only enhances the appearance of applicants chair by substantially hiding the said hooks 22 from view but also removes them from any protruding position in which they might catch or tear the garments of the chair occupant.

Since numerous minor variations of the preferred embodiment of my invention will now be apparent to those skilled in the art, it is not my intention to confiine the invention to the precise form herein shown, but rather to limit it in terms of the appended claim.

Having thus described and disclosed a preferred embodiment of my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States is:

A chair comprising a base, a unitary tubular frame defining the outline of a continuous L-shaped back and seat area for said chair, means for supporting said unitary frame on said base without substantially obstructing said outline, opposed continuous rows of regularly spaced hooks secured to the opposed inner walls of the back and seat portions of said frame, said hooks opening upwardly on said seat portions and forwardly on said back portions of said tubular frame, and a continuous back and seat surface grid on said unitary frame consisting of a single flexible strand engaging said hooks, passing around said tubular frame and across said back and seat area a '4 plurality of times to provide the body contacting surfaces 1,212,657 Man et a1. J an. 16, 1917 in the form of a grid of spaced substantially parallel and 1,974,948 Brown Sept. 25, 1934 horizontal portions of said strand. 2,622,663 Burd Dec. 23, 1952 2,922,170 Reggiani Ian. 26, 1960 References Cited in the file of this patent 5 FOREIGN PATENTS UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,144,865 France Apr. 29, 1957 176,314 Hunzinger Apr. 18, 1876 339,344 Switzerland Aug. 15, 1959 

